Food pantry services to be covered after Willis Center closing

Sunday

Jan 13, 2013 at 6:00 AMJan 13, 2013 at 6:44 AM

By Nick Kotsopoulos TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

The city has come up with a plan to ensure that food pantry services provided by the Henry Lee Willis Center continue without interruption after the social service agency closes all its programs next month.

City Manager Michael V. O’Brien said Friendly House will be taking over the coordination of the food pantry services at Plumley Village and Belmont Towers, while Centro Las Americas will be coordinating similar services at Great Brook Valley, Booth Apartments and Lincoln Village.

In order to facilitate the transition, the manager said the city will need to revise its scope of services and develop a contract for those agencies and services, covering Feb. 1 through June 30.

Because federal Community Development Block Grant funding is involved, Mr. O’Brien said the transition plan will require City Council approval.

He said he intends to submit to the council an amendment to this year’s block grant program at its Jan. 22 meeting.

The Willis Center operates the Neighborhood Serv-Food Pantry on Tacoma Street in Great Brook Valley and the Neighborhood Serv-Plumley at 16 Laurel St.

The programs serve about 2,000 households annually, the manager said.

In addition to running the food pantries, the Willis Center also coordinates the distribution of food baskets, holiday meals and snacks for youth at Belmont Towers, Booth Apartments and Lincoln Village.

The city appropriated $42,409 to the Willis Center for those food pantry services, as part of its block grant allocation for this fiscal year.

“The city and the Community Development Advisory Committee recognize that these services are vital and needed,” Mr. O’Brien said.

But city officials were forced to scramble to find other agencies to provide those services after the Willis Center lost its state funding last month and announced it will close all its programs and lay off 158 full- and part-time employees by Feb. 6.

The state has not laid out the reason behind its decision to cancel the contracts with the Willis Center.

Given the unique circumstances and relatively short time frame involved, city officials last week said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is allowing the city to find new providers of those services without having to go through a formal request-for-proposals process.

HUD is also allowing the city to reallocate to Friendly House and Centro Las Americas the unused portion of the federal block grant funding that had been appropriated to the Willis Center for food pantry services.

In looking for other agencies to fill the void, Mr. O’Brien said the city reviewed its current block grant-funded providers to determine if a seamless transition could occur based on a number of factors.

They included: familiarity with federal block grant program rules and procedures; experience and capacity to operate a high- volume food service program; status with the Worcester County Food Bank; and ability to provide the services expeditiously.

“Both agencies have proven track records for assisting low- and moderate-income families, experience with the Community Development Block Grant program and the food bank, the administrative capacity to oversee the program, and bilingual and bi-cultural competencies,” Mr. O’Brien said.